Temporary surcharges on sales and income taxes should phase out on schedule next year “if at all possible,” Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday in his first comments on the politically charged issue.

“I’m certainly in favor of reducing taxes,” the mayor said during a press conference at Harlem Hospital.

“Talking about those specific things, I just think, let’s talk to the Legislature and see. I would like to see both those taxes, however, sunset if at all possible.”

Bloomberg’s cautious remarks represented a sharp turn from his declarative statements earlier this year that taxpayers have a right to expect that temporary taxes would be just that – temporary.

But that was before court-appointed special referees ordered the state to come up with a monumental $5.6 billion a year to improve city schools. With the city likely to be socked with part of the bill, insiders say Bloomberg would be hard put to demand that the state pay its share and at the same time deliver lower taxes to city residents.

Three tax surcharges are on the line: an increase in the sales tax from 8.25 to 8.625 percent; a hike in the income tax on individuals earning more than $100,000 and the reactivated sales tax on clothing sales under $110.

Both sales tax boosts are supposed to end June 1, 2005. The income tax surcharge runs through Dec. 31, 2005.